Heads bowed in shame, two young men, one bearing the signs of a vicious beating, were forced by vigilantes to walk down a main street near their home wearing placards that revealed the verdicts of a brutal kangaroo court. This is rough justice in Northern Ireland, where many estates are still ruled by groups of paramilitaries.

Despite ceasefires and historic power-sharing agreements between unionists and republicans, loyalist terror groups are still openly defying the police and taking the law into their own hands

The two teenagers, from the Greater Shankill area of north Belfast, were forced by the Ulster Volunteer Force to take what locals call their 'walk of shame' after being accused of a spate of house burglaries and a break-in at a bakery over the past few weeks.

A loyalist source said that the pair had been abducted by the UVF and then taken to a local bar.

'One was stripped to the waist and severely beaten while the other was forced to watch,' he said. 'Then they were marched out of the pub and on to the Shankill Road. Three guys stood behind them, all with dogs on leashes, including a pit bull terrier, and the boys were made to march up and down the road for an hour.'

The marks of their encounter were starkly evident to passers-by. One had heavy bruises and cuts on his head as well as blackened eyes. The physicals scars were only part of their punishment, however. As the pair were paraded along the road, the men marching behind shouted abuse and laughed at them.

It was a sight that has sent shivers of fear and distaste through Belfast. 'These young lads were clearly terrified and the thugs walking behind them were laughing at them and shouting insults,' said eyewitness Kathy McIlvenney, whose family has already suffered at the hands of loyalists. Her nephew, Craig McCausland, was shot dead by the UVF in 2005.

'I was disgusted by what I have seen,' she added. 'What sort of justice is that? These people have no right to do this sort of thing.'

Public humiliation inflicted by paramilitaries dates back to the very start of the Troubles. The IRA tarred and feathered a number of young women at the beginning of the conflict because they claimed the girls had been having relationships with British soldiers.

Loyalists took up the practice and several young men were severely beaten before being tied to lamp-posts with placards hung round their necks claiming they were guilty of crimes ranging from house-breaking to rape.

With the end of the Troubles, the practice appeared to have stopped, only for it to abruptly reappear in the past few months. Last August, on the loyalist Taughmonagh estate in south Belfast, a local man accused of drug dealing was kidnapped by a masked Ulster Defence Association gang and left with tar and feathers over his body. A placard placed over his head stated: 'I'm a drug-dealing scumbag.'

However, with the appearance on Friday of the two beaten men on Shankill Road, a new stage in the use of the 'walk of shame' appears to have been reached.

Apart from the pair punished by the UVF, a third man was also forced to stand on Shankill Road, again with a placard, it was revealed yesterday, although this time the victim had been punished by the UDA, an organisation that is officially on ceasefire and which has publicly eschewed violence for political ends.

Sources on the Shankill said that all three men had been told they would be 'exiled' or shot if they gave evidence to the police or spoke out to the media. Their families were also issued with warnings that they were not to speak about the incidents.

Such impunity by loyalists groups enrages local people and has raised fears that paramilitary organisations are strengthening their stanglehold on the city's estates. Several shopowners were told last week that the alleged burglars were about to be punished.

Despite this being common knowledge, there was no police presence on Shankill Road until after the men had been forced to walk up and down the road for an hour.

This point was stressed by McIlvenney. 'There wasn't a police officer in sight. The people of the Shankill don't want this sort of justice, this is the sort of thing that has to be left behind.'

She added that the time was now right for the Northern Ireland authorities to pull the plug on publicly funded bodies which employ anyone with paramilitary connections.

Last night a spokesman for the Police Service of Northern Ireland confirmed that placards had been seized from the men concerned following a report from a member of the public. However, he added that because none of the men had made any complaint, no further action would be taken at this stage.